Pasco County, FL Public Health Rules: Rodent Control (2026)

Section 50-172, in the health and sanitation chapter's article on food service establishments, requires 'effective measures intended to minimize the presence of rodents, flies, cockroaches and other insects on the premises' and requires the premises to be kept in a condition that doesn't harbor or feed them. Every opening to the outside must be effectively protected against rodents, and against insects by tight-fitting, self-closing doors, closed windows, screening, controlled air currents or other means; screen doors must be self-closing, and any screening on windows, doors, skylights, transoms and intake or exhaust ducts must be tight-fitting, free of breaks and no coarser than 16 mesh to the inch.

That building-level rule sits alongside § 50-171's garbage and refuse standards, which require durable, insectproof and rodentproof containers with tight-fitting lids, drain plugs kept in place except during cleaning, and outdoor storage kept far enough from the building and clean enough that it doesn't itself become a rodent or insect attractant. Both sections apply specifically to licensed food service establishments rather than to residential property generally; a homeowner's rodent or vermin complaint about a neighboring vacant lot is instead handled under the county's separate overgrown-conditions and nuisance code.